Conveyer mechanism



C. G.' JOA GONVEYER MECHANISM sept. 2, 1941.

t original Filed` ooi.v so, 1937 INVENTOR C0167 vJOI@ @M i, i

heboyn enniieeaen ceases so. isst.

is., a cereA si l.

Hindi. Divi@ t application Fabraa ary 19de. Serial No. @mais i o (es.

This invention relates to improvements in con veyer systems and thelike, the present appli-= cation being a division of my applicationentitled Manufacture of sanitary nap and the like.

Serial No. 171,861, led October 30, 193'?.

It is a primary object of the present invention to lprovide for greatlyaccelerating the output ci machines regardless of the specific. type ofarticle produced thereby.

More spccincaly stated. it is the object of my invention to provide animproved .conveyer mechanism which is particularly adapted foruse in themanufacture of sanitary napkins but is useful elsewhere to divide anddistribute the outing theport'ion of the feed and distributing table.

Fig. 2 is av detail view in longitudinal section through the feed anddistributing table.

Fig. 3 isa yiew in transverse section through the. feed ana distributingtable.

Fig.- 4 is a detail view taken in section on line -I of Fig. 2. v

Fig. 5 is a ydetail view taken in section on kthe line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

Like parts are identified by the same reference characters throughoutthe several views.

Y In the manufacture pf sanitary napmns it is possible to blank out padsat least three times as rapidly as they can be incorporated in wrappers.It is the function of the present mechanism to serve a plurality ofassembly lines from a single pad blanking mechanism not shown. Theassembly linesare adapted to operate the units to function concurrentlyon the adjacent napkins to deliver three completed napkinssimultaneously at the end of the machine or discharge into a' commonstacker. The conveyer mechanism herein described is adapted forcooperation with a pad blanking mechanism and an assembly mechanism andstacker in a manner illustrated in my co-pendlng application. Serial No.171,861. Thus, there is one web or composite web ofpad material goinginto one end oi' the machine, one series of. completed napkinsdischarged from the other end in stacks. but the intervening portion ofthe machine is divided into a plurality of assembly lines so that it can-operate much more slowly than the input or dischargegportion of themechanism.- thereby doing more accurate work with less danger ci'spoilage, while at the same time enormously increasing the output-'ofthe machine.- The arrangement isY such that the machine takes a littlemore 'space than the single assembly line ima-l chine as heretoforemade. The apparatus herein described is adapted to convey the blanksfrom the blank cutting mechanism and properly feed them to 'a pluralityof assembly lines.

The principle of 'the conveyer or distribution mech being thus broadlystated, I shall now describe my invention in more detail, it being'lunderstood that reference to a sanitary napkin vinachine is merely.illustrative of the principle.

As the successive articles are discharged from the blanking die, theyfall upon table I0. Fig. 1, in the path of conveyer 'chains li' and i2which carry aligned lugs i3 and I6 for propelling the articles. Eacharticle is arranged to span an intervening conveyer chain I5 having twotypes of lugs at it and il, respectively. Between each pair ofconsecutive lugs il. there will intervene a number of lugs i6corresponding to the number of assembly lines. The several lugs IB andil are otherwise equally spaced along the conveyer chain l5 to alternatewith the position of lugs i3 and H upon chains Il and I2.

It will be noted that the conveyer chain -I2 ends near the lefthand sideof Fig. l. Conveyer chain Il is carried somewhat farther along the tablei. Central chain I5 continues to the end of the table. veyer chain i2, Iprovide a ilxed peg at 20 positioned to engage the side of one of thearticles 2i to bring that side of the article to rest. During thecontinued movement of the conveyer chain Il, its lug i3, engaging theother side of the article, will cause the article to turn as indicatedin Fig. l. Ultimately, the space between lug i3 and peg 2@ beingsubstantially equal tov the width of the article, the article will bealigned longitudinally with conveyer chain i5 to vbe engaged on one ofthe lugs thereof.

The notched lugs il are fixed to conveyer chain i5 as shown' in Fig. 2.The article engaged by said lug will'be propelled continuously acrossthe table le and discharged from the end thereof.

The notches in the side of the lug enable the lug to pass the closelyspaced plates at 23 and 2l, Fig. 5, beneath the cross conveyers 25 and'25,

respectively. Lugs i6 on chain l5, on the other v majority of the lengthof the feed table i0. these hand, are pivoted on the chain and carryvtail pieces-28 which a'ct as weights. Throughout the i nates. As shownin Fig. 2, this allows the tail piece 28 to drop, a pivotal oscillatorymovement Shortly beyond the end of conleaves the article propelled bythat lug stationary?- on plates 23 and 2l in a position to be removedtoward one side or the other by the crossconveyers 25 or 26.

The cross conveyers 25 and 2l carry propeller lugs 30 and 3i,respectively. In Fig. 3, one of the articles 2| has been delivered tothe left, another has been delivered to the right, and a third is justbeing propelled by one of the notched lugs i1 down the center of thefeed table.

Operating in synchronism with the central feed chain l5 are two sidefeed chains I2 and il. Each of these chains preferably has a feed lug orlugs 34, 35 at such spacing that they will move along the feed table inexact synchronism with one of the notched lugs il of the centralconveyer chain. Thus, after one article has been delivered to one sideof the feed table and one article to the other, these two articles willbe picked up to resume their'lengthwise movement in step to the advanceof the third article along the center of the feed table. Thereafter theoperation is repeated. From this point there are three assembly linesdesignated by figures 36. 31 and I8, as described in detail and claimedin my c'o-pending application Serial No. 171,861.

I claim:

1. In a conveyer mechanism, the combination with means providing atransfer station, of a plurality of separate conveyers for deliveringarticles from said station and an intermediate feeding conveyer leadingto said station between said first mentioned conveyers and includingmeans for feeding a succession of articles at predetermined intervals, aplurality of cross conveyers operating at said station from said feedingconveyerto the respective delivery conveyers and provided withpropelling means so spaced as to engage different articles fed to saidstation by said feeding conveyer. whereby successive articles so fed aretransferred to the respective delivery conveyers.

2. In a conveyer mechanism, the combination with a first articleconveyer provided with a plurality of types of article propelling means,one such type of article propelling means being adapted to discontinuearticle propulsion at a predetermined station and another such meansbeing adapted to continue article propulsion beyond said station. of across conveyer at said station provided with means for laterallyimpelling an article coming to rest at said station, and separatearticle conveying systems Jincluding advancing means supplied by saidfirst conveyer and cross conveyer respectively.

3. In an assembly machine, the combination with a first conveyer havingone type of pad propeiling means adapted to discontinue pad propulsionat a predetermined station and another type of pad propelling meansadapted to continue pad propulsion beyond said station,l of a pluralityof cross conveyers acting oppositely at said station for the lateralpropulsion in opposite directions of pads coming to rest at saidstation, and means consisting of a plurality of article conveying lineseach adapted to receive pads from one of the several conveyersaforesaid.

4. In a device of the character described, the combination with adistributing table, of a plu.- rality of cross conveyersV actingtransversely across the face of the table at a predetermined stationthereon, a plurality of longitudinal conveyers acting in spaced relationpast said station, each of the several conveyers including articlepropelling lugs for advancing articles longitudinally or laterallyacross the face of the distributing table, the lugs of one of thelongitudinal conveyers including one type of lug fixed to the conveyerfor continuous article propulsion past said station, and a foldable lugintervening be tween lugs of the first type and adapted to release atsaid station the articles propelled by it, whereby said articles willcome to rest at said station to be propelled by the lugs oi' one of saidcross conveyers.

5. In an article assembling machine, the comI bination with a slotteddistributing table having a distributing station, of a conveyeroperating in a slot of said table and provided with widely spaced padpropelling lugs fixed to the conveyer for continuous propulsion of padsacross said station, said conveyer being also provided with interveninglugs downwardly yieldable to pass beneath said table at said station,whereby tol release at said station the pads propelled thereby, togetherwith means for removing laterally at said station pads propelled by saidlast mentioned lugs and coming to rest at said station.

6. In an assembly machine, the combination with a conveyer chainprovided at intervals with pad propelling lugs fixed thereto andtransversely slotted at their margins, a distributing table having achannel in which said chain operates and provided at a distributingstation with plates receivable in the slotted margins of said lugs, setsof additional propelling lugs pivotally mounted on said chain betweensaid first mentioned lugs and having unslotted margins adapted to beengaged by said plates for the pivoting of said lugs to inoperativepositions upon said chain, whereby to permit pads propelled by said lastmentioned lugs to come to rest on said plates at said station, means formaintaining said last mentioned lugs normally erect in pad propellingpositions while permitting said lugs to collapse to inoperativepositions on approaching said plates, and cross conveyer means forremoving laterally over said table from said plates the pads that cometo rest thereon at said station.

7. In an article assembling machine, the combination with a conveyerchain provided at intervals with pad propelling lugs xed thereto andtransversely slotted at their margins, a distributing table having achannel in which said chain operates and provided at a distributingstation with plates receivable in the slotted margins oi said lugs. setsof additional propelling lugs pivotally mounted -on said chain betweensaid first mentioned lugs and having unslotted margins adapted to beengaged by said plates for the pivoting of said lugs to inoperativepositions upon said chain, whereby to permit pads propelled by said lastmentioned lugs to come to rest on said plates at said station, means formaintaining said last mentioned lugs normally erect in pad propellingpositions while permitting said lugs to collapse to inoperativepositions on approaching said plates, and cross conveyer means forremoving laterally over said table from said plates the pads that cometo rest thereon at said station, together with a plurality of separateconveyer systems operatively positioned to receive separate pads fromsaid first conveyer and said cross conveyer means respectively.

CURT G. JOA.

